A New Attitude Towards Teaching

As this course approaches its completion I have been thinking and reflecting on what I have learned over the past few months and how my understanding of teaching and learning has changed.  I have gleaned a lot of new information regarding the shift in education towards a 21st Century approach to instruction.  Prior to undertaking this course I had never heard of a “21st Century” education, however, I know fully understood what this concept means and have the utmost confidence that I am placing myself on a path to being confident enough to implement and use the strategies and tools that I have learned about.  Although, I admit that I still have a lot more learning to do in regards to a 21st Century education and the Web 2.0.  In spite of this, I am excited at the prospect of furthering my education in this domain because I realize the educational value that many of these tools bring to the classroom and the positive effects that they have on enhancing the learning experience and deepening a student’s understanding of the material.   

As previously stated, this course has proven to have a significant impact on my view of education and has changed my understanding of what teaching in the 21st Century means.  I think all teachers should inform themselves of these new practices and become more proficient in using them because they are continually proving to more effective at strengthening a student’s understanding. Teachers who refuse to adapt their teaching to reflect these changes in educational discourse are doing a great disservice to their students. With that in mind, I think it is important that teachers do not simply begin to use Web 2.0 tools without a rudimentary understanding of how they work because it may lead to confusion for the students and frustration for the teacher.  What teachers need to understand though is that they do not have to be complete experts in the tools that they implement.  I have found that the Web 2.0 lends itself to a two-way approach to education, as opposed to a traditional one-way exchange, in which the teacher learns alongside and sometimes from his/her students.

Personally, I plan to continue to grow my understanding of the 21st Century model of education.  My plan to do this includes taking more formal education that continues to build on the material from this course.  I also plan to continue to explore educator blogs and websites that are focused on the pursuit of furthering one’s understanding of this paradigm shift in education.   

Authored by: Jon

The Benefits of Video Conferencing for Students and Teachers

Video conferencing refers to the meeting between two or more participants using their computers, or other video supported devices, to transmit audio and video data to the other members of the meeting.  The popularity of video conferencing has gained a lot of popularity in the last several years as users continue to interconnect with people from all over the globe. As a professional tool video conferencing is proving to be an invaluable resource because of its ability to connect people in a more personal way when compared to other forms of communication such as emails or phones.  Furthermore, it is becoming a more preferred method of communication because it allows the users to connect with another and have a face to face conversation at virtually any time. From my own personal experience I know that a lot of school boards in isolated areas chose to use video conferencing as the primary interview method when interviewing prospective employees.  

Apart from being a useful form of conducting business or job interviews, video conferencing is also gaining popularity in education.  It is becoming a preferred method of teaching students in rural areas where teachers are not readily available.   Another useful application of video conferencing is to support material being learned in the classroom.  Using these tools, students can engage in virtual field trips to places that they are learning about in class and get a real sense of what these places are like in real life, as opposed to a description in a textbook or website.  

This Youtube video provides some additional insights into the benefits of video conferencing in schools.  

Authored by: Jon & Emily

Letter To Parents

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I am excited to take on this new adventure with all of you. I have discussed with the students already but I would like to discuss this with everyone involved in the child’s life. Starting after March Break we will be having a ‘flipped classroom’ for math. With the Flipped Classroom essentially the students do the homework at school and the lectures/ lessons at home. Each week there is going to be three videos for students to watch that are going to be embedded on our class blog. Students will be given a schedule and the schedule will also be posted online to keep track with what they should be watching. Every weekend, Tuesday night and Thursday night students will be asked to watch the lessons on their own. The days following  the lesson we will be doing exercises, projects, assignments and discussion in class on lessons viewed previously. Having the students do their ‘homework’ at school and ‘lessons’ at home I believe we can get some meaningful work and learning completed.

This is something new to teaching and many of you may be concerned. Many of you may be questioning; ‘Is my child going to learn everything they need to?’ I believe the answer is YES! I have been doing some extensive research and here are some websites that have information and stats about the successes with the flipped classroom.

• Site #1
• Site #2
• Site #3

What I am asking of YOU the parents and guardians is that you join your child as much as possible while viewing the lessons at home. Also, engage with your child in a conversation after you watching the video to help him/her think and question their understanding and learning.

I think this opportunity will be very positive for you and your child. It is a great way to stay involved in your child’s schoolwork. Now you will know when you ask your child ‘What did you learn at school today?’.

I understand that not everyone may have access to a computer and internet at home. You may want to consider going to the library or community center with your child. I will also be downloading the video onto a USB. So if you don’t have internet but have a computer your child can sign out the USB for at home viewing. Lastly, I will be having computer lab openings for students and their parents every Monday morning from 7:45am to 8:30 am, Tuesday afternoon from 3:10 pm- 4:00 pm and Thursday afternoon from 3:10 pm- 4:00 pm. I hope one of these will be helpful to you if you are in need.

If you have any other questions or concerns. Please call me at the school.

Thank You,

Miss. Zwier

Video for Learning Resources

One website that provides videos to support learning and teaching is called Classroom Clips.  This website has been developed to provide users with additional resources  that can be used to reinforce and clarify concepts that are being learned in the classroom.  What I really liked about this website is that the videos were sorted by grade level and then broken down further by subject content.  Another website that uses video to reinforce learning is Zane Education.  This website is similar to other video based educational websites, however, what I thought was really unique about Zane Eduation was that it’s videos were accompanied by subtitles.  The website claims that videos with subtitles are extremely effective at developing stronger reading and literacy skills.  The only downside to this website is that full access to the video archives is reserved for subscribers only, which costs about $200.00 a year.  

Authored by: Jon

The Flipped Classroom: Parental Information

Dear Parent(s)/ Guardian(s),

I am sending this letter home with your child to explain to you a new teaching concept that we will be implementing in our classroom this year.  The new method of instructional approach that I will be using this year, in our classroom is called a Flipped Classroom.  This approach may be unfamiliar to you as it is a fairly novel approach to teaching.  The main concept behind this approach is that lesson instructions will be provided in video format and will be given to the student the night before.  Student’s will then come to school the next day and work on an assignment based on the previous nights lesson.   

One of the benefits of the flipped classroom is that it allows students to learn the material on their own time and at their own pace.  Student’s can view the video as many times as they like and are encouraged to speak with their parent(s)/guardian(s) or consult other internet resources for further clarification if there is something in the lesson that is confusing to them.  Another benefit of this approach is that the videos will always remain available for viewing, allowing students to review a previous lesson(s) before a test.  

The flipped classroom eliminates the traditional one-way, one-time approach to instruction.  Students will understand the lesson at a more meaningful level than what a one-time, one-way in class instructional approach offers.  It is also the hope that they will come to class with questions that otherwise may have been skipped over and never answered.

As eluded to earlier, after viewing the lesson the night before students will come to school they next day and will work on assignments that will reinforce what they have already learned.  By learning the concept at home and doing the assignment in class the idea of “homework” is flipped so that work that would traditionally be assigned for homework can be completed in class with the assistance and expertise of the teacher.   

As an initial introduction to the flipped classroom I have instructed the students to view this Khan Academy video explaining long division.  The link to the video is  http://goo.gl/UwtPpA.  To watch this video, simply type the link into the address bar of your internet browser.  I encourage you to watch this video with your child and help clarify any areas of the instructions that are giving her/him problems.

I will be primarily using Khan Academy for my instructional videos throughout the year.  However, there are additional websites that provide the same services as Khan Academy that I will be using occasionally.  These additional sites are Teachertube (http://goo.gl/e7d9NH) and Edutopia (http://goo.gl/9AVDsT).  I encourage you to explore these sites with your child so you both may familiarize yourselves with them.

Finally, I am sensitive to the fact that home internet access may not be available for everyone.  However, the public library as well as the community centre both have computers that can be used to access these websites.  

If you have any additional questions or concerns please feel free to contact me so we can discuss this exciting opportunity.  

Sincerely,

Mr. Hiller